[Avodah] Shulchan Aruch VS Our Own understanding

[jew at when.com]

What should a modern Jew take from the Maharal's quoteregarding the shulchan aruch? Does living by the shulchan aruch waterdown Judaism? I have heard in the name of Rabbi Yitzchak Berkowitz thatthe only reason an individual today cannot argue with a tana, amorahect.. is not due to an inferior intellectual ability but due to aninferior possession of information. Regarding achronim, we are allequally distant from the Mesorah subsequent to a certain point inhistory (the exact point in history is unclear- but a line is certainlydrawn for the shulchan aruch).  





"When firstpublished, the Shulkhan Arukhwas greeted not with unanimous praise, but with thesame objections that greeted all the previous codes of Jewish law. As oneexample, the Maharal of Prague wrote: 
"Todecide halakhic questions from the codes withoutknowing the source of the ruling was not the intent of these authors. Had theyknown that their works would lead to the abandonment of Talmud, they would nothave written them. It is better for one to decide on thebasis of the Talmud even though he might err, for a scholar must dependsolely on his understanding. As such, he is beloved of God, and preferable tothe one who rules from a code but does not know thereason for the ruling; such a one walks like a blind person." [From the Maharal's NetivotOlam, by A. Siev,"Rema", p.360, n.2). 
Otherprominent critics of the Shulkhan Arukhincluded Rabbi Yoel ben Shmuel Sirkis and Rabbi Meir ben Gedaliah. [See Rabbi Mendell Lewittes, "JewishLaw: An Introduction" p.157-158" 

http://www.kashkin.com/70Faces/HalachaFromCodes.htm

-Josh Schulman

 


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